“It is fine thing to have the ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test”

Sharing The limelight: Appreciating Excellence

The award ceremony of ‘National Contest on Technology Integration in Education’ of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) was held on 10th May 2007 at their campus in Delhi to felicitate the students who had submitted the award winning digital portfolios for the contest.

The chief guest for the function was Prof. Ved Prakash, Vice Chancellor, NUEPA & Chairperson, NCTE.

Other prominent personalities who attended the ceremony were Prof. KK Agarwal, Vice Chancellor, GGSIPU, Dr. V K Jain, Registrar, GGSIPU, Prof. R K Mittal, Dean, School of Management Studies, GGSIPU, Mr. Manav Subodh, Manager Higher Education Programs, Intel India, Dr. Anjlee Prakash, CEO, Learning Links Foundation, various directors and principals of colleges affiliated to GGSIPU.

Prof. RK Mittal, Dean, School of Management Studies welcomed all. He remarked that the integration of technology in education is a step that can transform education system. He thanked the Vice Chancellor (VC) for his guidance and for helping the university to be a pioneer for holding national contest for Integrating technology in education. He also thanked Intel for providing its continuous support in all the possible ways. The award ceremony began with the distribution of prizes and the consolation prizes were given away by Dr. V K Jain.

Dr. Sangeeta Chauhan described the way the contest was initiated and taken up finally to the national level for the VC’s advice. 365 detailed entries were received. She conveyed that provision was made to receive registration and detailed entries through e-mail. She elaborated Intel’s role in designing, developing and evaluating the contest. She thanked the panel of experts for the evaluation and expressed her gratitude towards the VC and Intel.

Mr. Manav Subodh, Manager Higher Education Programs, Intel India expressed great happiness for being a collaborative partner with GGSIPU. He highlighted the fact that by integrating technology in education one is addressing the needs of the Indian economy, helping it to rise to a superpower. He further pointed out that to become a global superpower or the third largest economy, the country needs to have the cutting edge technology and for that it is essential to promote 21st century skills among students. He thanked the University for the Collaboration and congratulated all the winners.

Prof. K K Agarwal spoke in detail about technology integration and his association with Intel” I have known Intel for long. I have been to some of their higher Education seminars also. I am deeply appreciative of Intel’s contribution. They have contributed significantly to education globally, and I think this is just great. I am very impressed with their concern for school education.” He talked about GGSIPU, being one of the few universities that began its B. Ed. course with ICT firmly placed in the curriculum. He further added that it was a deliberate move to empower teachers so as to give to present day schools the kind of teachers they need.

He said “My purpose for this contest is achieved. This was reflected in a remark made by the jury that ‘we have succeeded in removing the IT phobia of the teachers and students’. But I feel we need to go further than this and create “IT Love” among them.”

He also added that “ICT helps in bringing together the parents, community and the educators in the learning process of the students.”

He suggested for a publishing of the booklet containing all the winning entries and the cost to be borne by the University, only if the jury recommends that the entries were worth sharing with all the colleges of education in the country. He congratulated the winners, thanked Intel and everybody present over there.

Prof. Ved Prakash gave away the First prize. He spoke about various aspects of education. “It is heartening to know that IPU has taken the lead in technology integration. This contest is a good beginning; it should be scaled up to providing complete toolkit for the students. This contest is a good example of public-private initiative. I know Intel from way back, during our CLASS project. At that time, we took their help in technology transfer. Of course, technology has changed since then, and so have we.

He appreciated the role of Intel and said “Intel provides outstanding services in schools as well as in higher education.”

He expressed concern about the digital divide, as most of the winners were from select pockets where there was good infrastructure and connectivity. He recommended developing programs for rural or remote areas.

He further added “We need to set standards for teacher and students. These should be standards of the technology skills we expect them to have at any given stage. “This contest is a small beginning. It needs to be taken forward. One right step is the publication of the booklet, as announced by Prof. Agarwal. We need to publicize this contest and this event very widely so that other institutions can also emulate this initiative. Next year, I hope that there will be a bigger contest, with more entries.”

He made an interesting observation about girls outnumbering boys in the contest and challenged the boys to win in the next one and motivated girls to win the first prize.

He thanked all the dignitaries and congratulated all the winners and contestants. Dr. V K Tiwari gave the vote of thanks. Mementoes were given away to all the dignitaries on the dais.

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